Major League Baseball announced Wednesday a new collaboration with Apple that will put iPad Pros in dugouts and in bullpens starting this year.

Paper could become a thing of the past in dugouts, after MLB announced a collaboration with Apple that will put iPads in dugouts and bullpens this year. Brad Mangin/Getty Images

A proprietary MLB dugout app gives those in the game a chance to look through statistics and video when making in-game decisions. Managers, players and coaches will be able to access their own data.

"We think technology will make the decisions faster and better," commissioner Rob Manfred said on CBS on Wednesday morning.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in a statement that the iPad Pros will give baseballs insiders what they need "right at the touch of their fingers and when it matters most, during the game."

Concerned that the integrity of the game would be compromised, Major League Baseball had previously forbidden use of technology in the dugouts. The league says the devices will be secure thanks to private networks installed in the clubhouses at all 30 ballparks this offseason.

A Major League Baseball spokesman would not disclose whether money changed hands in the deal. Microsoft pays the NFL about $80 million annually for coaches to use its Surface tablets on the sidelines.

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday that he wasn't sold on the idea of new technology in the dugouts.

"This might sound nuts to you, but it might slow down the process," Maddon said. "If there's that moment that permits time to look up something, it might be OK, but I think that's where the piece of paper has it all over the computer -- in that moment."